Gotta Have Faith
by hypnoticangel
Summary: What happens when an old flame of Van's returns to Los Angeles with a lot of extra baggage?


**DISCLAIMER**: Fastlane and its characters do not belong to me. No harm is meant in writing this. Just someone with too much going on in their head that went with an idea.

**NOTE**: Set post season 1.

Review and let me know what you think. I'll write more as I can!

* * *

It was just another night like all the ones before. The only difference being Van wasn't at Ryde trying to make a bust with Deaq. They were in between cases, and he knew that he better enjoy the unexpected night off while he could. Billie would have yet another case ready for them. She might even have something for him and Deaq the next morning. 

There never seemed to be a shortage of criminals that needed busting in the city of Los Angeles. He wasn't even sure why he had come to Ryde. He didn't need to be there, and he started to laugh just a little when he saw he wasn't the only one that had made the trip to Ryde that night when he saw Deaq walking towards the table Van had been sitting at for the past hour.

Even when they didn't need to be together it seemed they always ended up together somehow. They hadn't started the best of partners, but over the past year the two had become friends as well as partners. They had their problems, but any two people that seemed to end up together almost seven days to week tense moments would happen. It was only natural. When Deaq slid into the seat next to him, he turned his head to look at his partner. "So hear from Billie yet?"

Deaq shrugged his shoulders a little, glancing out over the room where they were sitting. "She left a message. We're supposed to be at the candy store bright and early Monday morning. She didn't say for what, but something tells me we got a new case coming our way."

Van took a sip of his drink before rolling his eyes. "Oh joy." He set his glass on the table, really knowing now he should enjoy the night he had. Maybe he could find some nice blonde for the night. Dance a little, see if an opportunity presented itself. He let his gaze travel over the room once again, seeing if anything caught his eye and someone soon did. However, he wasn't sure if he actually believed he was seeing the person he thought he was seeing.

It had been years since he had seen Faith. Yet, he knew it had to be her, but he had no idea how she was even back in Los Angeles, and he wondered how fate would have it that she would end up in the very same club he was at that night. He knew he would have noticed her if she had ever been there before.

Looking at her, one wouldn't think she was his type of girl. She wasn't blonde. She wasn't a size two, but that hadn't mattered when he had met her nearly eight years before. She had been a freshman at UCLA, and he had just joined the force. She had been that nice girl, but something just drew him to her. Maybe it was that innocent quality she possessed.

He'd asked her out, and that had been the beginning of an almost two year long relationship. The summer before her junior year, she had gone home to visit her family, but things had happened. She had to stay, and they hadn't been able to make it work long distance. They had tried, really tried. He had thought she was the one, and he knew she had felt the same way. They had kept in touch at first, but that hadn't lasted. The last he heard from her had been about five years ago.

Van was taken out of his thoughts by Deaq. "Earth to Van. See something you like?" When Van didn't say anything immediately, Deaq tried to see if he could find what Van was staring at.

Van shook his head before picking up and draining the rest of his drink. "I ... its just someone I used to know. At least I think its her. Its been awhile since I saw her."

Deaq glanced over at his partner. "Well how long is awhile, man? If you think its someone you know, you should just go up and say hello. Unless its someone that is liable to smack you upside your head for something you did years ago. Then maybe you should just stay here."

Van laughed. "No. I don't think she would smack me. At least not as far as I know. Things didn't end badly really. They just ended. It was complicated."

Deaq lifted his own drink to his lips with a nod. "The one that got away huh? The one all the women in Los Angeles have to blame for you being the biggest player ever?"

Van rolled his eyes, moving to get up from the table. "Shut up. I need another drink." He walked towards the bar, watching the young woman as she sat there on the end. She looked to be alone, so he moved to sit next to her. He waved the bartender over with a smile, motioning to his empty glass. "Another one for me, and whatever the lady is having to. Put it on my tab."

* * *

Faith Jordan had no idea why she found herself at that club on that night. It was getting late, and she knew she should just head back home. The friend she had met there earlier had just left, but she decided to stick around. It was Friday night. She should live a little. It wouldn't hurt her any. That much was for sure. It felt good to be back in Los Angeles. She'd actually missed the craziness of the city all these years. Being from a small town in Arizona certainly paled in comparison to the hustle and bustle of such a large city, even if it was riddled with crime and smog.

She stirred her drink, the music not even interesting her. A few men had come up and offered to buy her drinks, but she hadn't excepted one offer. Not to dance either. She wasn't interested in any of that at the moment. She was trying to get settled into her job and back into the city. Plus, she had just left someone, and it wasn't on the best of circumstances. Faith didn't want to think about that tonight though. This was supposed to be fun wasn't it?

She saw a man slide onto the stool next to her out of the corner of her eye, but she didn't turn to look at him until after he ordered her a drink. Faith began to open her mouth to tell the bartender to cancel that order, but she closed her mouth again suddenly when she recognized the man that sat next to her. Seeing him there stunned her into silence. Van. How long had it been since she'd seen him? When was the last time she had even heard his voice on the other end of her phone line. It felt like forever, but now here he was just inches from her.

He turned to look at her with a smile, and she smiled in return. Faith knew she should say something. Anything. She wasn't used to being stunned into silence, but then again Van had always seemed to have that effect on her. In the whole time they had dated, he always seemed to know just how to shut her up when her nervous ramblings seemed to get the best of her. Now in this situation, she didn't have any of those rambling thoughts coming out.

This was the last thing she had expected, and now she was glad her friend had asked her to come here. She was also glad she had stayed. If she hadn't, he would never have found her there at the bar. "Van ... I ... wow. How long has it been? Five years?" She bit her lip for a second before reaching for the new drink the bartender had placed in front of her. "I think anyway. It's been a long time."

Van knew it had been at least that. Faith had been barely twenty when he had seen her last, and now here she was twenty-five. She didn't look much different than he remembered. She was still as beautiful as the day he had met her. It didn't seem like almost eight years ago, but that is what it was. The way they began was one of the most cliché of first meetings, but it worked.

Somehow they both ended up at the same coffee shop, and she had been short of money. He had been behind her in line, so he ended up paying for her drink on top of his own. The next morning, they had ended up there again, and she insisted on paying him back. The two began to talk, and every morning after that they made a point to start off their day with seeing each other. After a few weeks, he ended up asking her out, and the rest as they say was history.

"It has been awhile. We seemed to just stop talking didn't we?" He lifted his glass to his lips, taking a drink before glancing over his shoulder at the table he had been sitting at. Deaq was still there, and he was watching the little scene play out at the bar with interest. "I didn't even know you were back in town." He looked back over at the woman sitting next to him. She really hadn't changed much at all. The way she looked sitting there in her jeans and top almost made it seem like no time had passed at all, but he knew it had.

So much had happened since he saw her last, especially in the past year. He wasn't even sure he was the same person he was when he knew Faith. She'd known him as a cop, but this whole undercover thing with the candy store was different. He wondered if she would even understand any of it if he told her about it. He knew he might because she did know he was a cop, and if she came across him when he was working a case, she might slip up. That would possibly make a dangerous situation, but not only for him but for her as well.

Faith smiled, once again stirring her drink with the tiny straw. "I haven't been back long. A few weeks maybe? I was thinking of looking you up, but I had no idea how to even start. I thought about trying the department, but I hadn't gotten around to it yet." She lifted her drink, taking a small sip before continuing to speak. "You're still with the department right?"

Van nodded, glancing down at the bar. "Yeah. Well, sort of. Its complicated. I sort of work for a special division now. One that is kind of quiet. I'll tell you about it some other time." He figured that would be enough for now. If she wanted to know more, she could always ask him again when they were alone. Faith looked at him with some interest with his words, and he could see the questions forming in her mind. He knew she wouldn't ask them there though. She would know not to. At some point, she would though. "Come back to my table with me. You can meet my partner."

Faith glanced over at his table, smiling at the man she saw seated there. "Alright. I'm not sure how much longer I'll be here though. I was getting ready to leave when you showed up." She slid off the stool she was sitting on, grabbing her drink.

Van threw his arm across her shoulder as he led her over to his table. "Now come on, Faith. Live a little. I just found you again. Don't end the night too early now. It's still young, and its Friday night. Unless you work tomorrow, then you have no reason to head in early." He stopped in front of his table, smiling at his partner. "Deaqon Hayes meet Faith Jordan. Faith, this is my partner, Deaq."

Deaq stood up and offered the young woman his hand, shaking hers for a moment before he moved to sit back down. He moved to another seat, so that she could sit next to Van. "Nice to meet you, Faith. You should have seen Van's face when he saw you sitting at the bar. Stunned silence is probably the only way I can describe it."

Faith glanced over at Van before looking back over at Deaq. "I guess you can say I had the same reaction. I certainly wasn't expecting to see him tonight, but here he is. It's good though. I had been wondering what he was up to since I got back into town." She glanced over at Van with a smile. "Knowing him he's probably causing a little bit of trouble. Maybe even a lot. He always did seem to know how to do that."

Deaq laughed. "You don't know the half of it. There was this one time ..."

Van didn't want this to turn into story time, so when the song changed he moved to get up and reached for her hand. "Let's dance." She took his hand, and he led her out onto the dance floor. The song was neither too fast or too slow. It was the type of song you could pull someone close to, and that's just what he did. They had danced together so many times before, and it felt like no time had passed at all since he last held her in his arms like this.

They weren't really dancing, just moving slowly to the beat of the music. His hands rested on her lower back, and hers rested on his chest. Neither of them really said anything. They were both just enjoying the moment and being together after so long. Faith pulled back a little to look up at him, and he saw the girl he had once knew. Back then, he had thought of marrying her one day, but that just hadn't worked out. Their relationship ending had lead him down the path of him being a called a player, but that wasn't how he started out.

Something was happening in that moment between them. He could feel it, and by the look in her eyes he knew she could to. The two of them had always had some kind of magic between them. Since that first time they had really met something was pulling them together, and that was no different now. That same unseen force was pulling them closer now. The years of not seeing each other seemed to just fade away. "Van ... I ..."

"You're just as beautiful as I remembered. Maybe even more now," he whispered. He watched as his words caused her to blush, and that caused him to smile. She could always blush so easily. As the two of them continued to dance, it seemed like they were the only ones in the room. They were in the middle of a crowded dance floor, but they didn't know it. Their eyes locked, and they moved to the music. It had taken that one dance for all the feelings Van once had for her to come rushing back. He was always one to fall fast and hard, but with her it wasn't even like that. They had some history together, and that just made his feelings even stronger.

When he began to lean in to kiss her, Faith froze, pulling back from him after a moment. "Van, I can't. Just ... I can't." She took a step back from him before turning and walking off the dance floor. He began to go after her, but he was stopped by one of the girls he had been dancing with earlier. When he broke free, he had lost sight of her in the crowd. After a moment, he walked back over to the table where Deaq sat waiting for him. "Well, that went over well. I didn't even get her number here in town."


End file.
